Citizens, Choppers, Colours, Chuckles and Cakes

Our friends Andre and Exelda Kruger invited us to be their guests at their Citizenship Ceremony - (they are seated front right on the picture). Having pledged allegiance to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of New Zealand, they await their new passports with the flash silver fern on the front! Now all they need to do is teach the kiwis how to pronounce their surname - incidentally Andre dabbles a bit in home brewed beer, the name of which is Kreer Beer! Now that's how to say the name- so it CAN be done!
 

This is a picture of the Godley Head Lighthouse down Christchurch way - beside the sea, the mountainside supporting the whole structure has fallen away with the huge quake of February last year and all the thousands of aftershocks since. The whole caboodle is threatening to plunge hundreds of feet into the sea! Last week, the 6 o'clock news had footage of a helicopter trying unsuccessfully to lift the 'light' part of the structure with it's copper dome. The helly was just not able to and the glass has now been removed in an effort to lighten the load - this too proved beyond the capabilities of the chopper, so now the plan is to remove the dome and get the whole thing off the cliffside a piece at a time. Since the lighthouse is of historical value and importance, every effort is being made to save the building and the big light - but nobody can get near the structure for fear of falling to their death - quite a challenge!!

New Zealand, being part of the commonwealth, is watching and waiting with bated breath for the announcement of the newest royal addition.
And here they are, no doubt would be Princess Diana's pride and total joy!
 

 

Civic buildings, bridges, clock towers and fountains in New Zealand are to be lit up in pink or blue to celebrate the arrival of the newest addition to the British royal family.
The royalist organisation Monarchy New Zealand has come up with the idea to mark the birth of the baby of William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, expected in mid July.

Chairman Sean Palmer says the sites involved will light up in the appropriate colour at dusk on the evening of the day following the royal birth.

He has signed up 20 sites to the plan, including the airport in the South Island city of Christchurch, and a quirky metal sheep dog shaped building which acts as the headquarters for the Tirau visitor centre in the central North Island.

"That should be a very interesting feature, particularly if it is a girl."

The gesture was made possible by modern lighting technology, Palmer said.

"Hundreds of years ago they would have lit bonfires from one side of the country to the other, but here we have the modern equivalent of that and it is a lot easier."

He said New Zealanders were keen to acknowledge the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's baby, who would grow up to be the King or Queen of New Zealand one day."

"This is a big deal, not just to Britain. This family really does belong as much to New Zealand as it does to Britain or Canada or Australia and while most of the focus is going to be on Britain it will not go unnoticed in any of these other countries and it's fantastic to see this international sharing of this particular moment.

ANDY MURRAY IS THE FIRST BRITISH WIMBLEDON CHAMPION IN SEVENTY SEVEN YEARS??

 Virginia Wade: a Wimbledon champion

Age: 67.

Appearance: Airbrushed. Out of history.

Who or what is Virginia Wade? Until last Sunday, the last British tennis player to win Wimbledon.

Huh? When? 36 years ago. Back in 1977.

Then how come I've never heard of her? Because journalists have forgotten she exists.

Really? Really. Wade has been written out of the headlines in several major newspapers.

Such as? On the front page of the Times today: "Murray ends 77-year wait for British win."

Ouch. And, on the front page of the Telegraph: "After 77 years, the wait is over."

Oof. And, on the front page of the Daily Mail: "Andy Murray ends 77 years of waiting for a British champion."

Jeez. Even the Daily Mail forgot about her win? Yep. Which is especially unforgivable, since they also published an interview with her, in which she told the paper: "You never forget how it feels to win Wimbledon."

Incredible. So where does the 77-year figure come from? That's the figure for the men's championships. The last British man to win before Murray was Fred Perry in 1936.

Meaning the real wait was actually just 41 years? No, in reality, British tennis fans were never made to wait at all. Dorothy Round Little won the women's singles – for the second time in her career – one year later, in 1937.

So there have been two British winners since? No, actually there have been four.

Four British women have won Wimbledon since Fred Perry? Yep. Partially deaf player Angela Mortimer won the championship in 1961, and underdog Ann Haydon-Jones beat legend of the sport Billie Jean King to win again in 1969.

This is a dark day for sports journalism, isn't it? Afraid so. But a good day for feminist writer Chloe Angyal, whose comment "Murray is indeed the first Brit to win Wimbledon in 77 years unless you think women are people" has been re-tweeted, at time of writing, 9,425 times.

That's a lot, right? It is. But it only really counts when men re-tweet it.

Do say: "If Murray wins, he's British. If he loses, he's Scottish." (NOW ISN'T THAT JUST TYPICAL)

 

Don't say: "If Wade wins, she's forgotten."


mmmmm......... ENOUGH SAID!

And last, but not least, here is the cake that I shall request for my upcoming birthday! Any volunteers to create it for me??

 

Dis al!

Visit from Johann, Barbara and Henri

 When the updates on the blog have not been a priority for the longest time, it's really difficult to 'pick up where we left off' as it were. So with the choice being either an attempt at something interesting, which fills in some of the gaps, or doing nothing at all and concentrating ones' efforts on other things creative....
Our visit with the children and grandson was just fabulous - touring and sightseeing in a new country can not be quite the same as it would be without an almost-two year old, but nevertheless, we managed to get to visit many places of interest and give our visitors a real feel for life in New Zealand.

Personally, us grandparents would no doubt have enjoyed the three weeks anywhere - it was about getting to know this little fellow and spending 'ordinary' time with him that made the time so special!
Almost (by a matter of days to make the airways' special ) two, Henri is the epitome of energy, enthusiasm, fascination with everything and cuteness personified. Even without the bias of grandparent's rose-coloured glasses, we could see a little fellow with the face of an angel and here and there, touched with a glint in the eye of a little wickedness, which delighted us completely!

There is very little in the way of 'ride on's' that won't appeal to him - this bike was really too small for him, but since we hadn't yet fetched a 'motorbike' from the Wanganui Toy Library, he made it work for him - flying down the slope on the Wanganui river walkway.

This 'ride in' was not going to be left at the toy library - when he thought we weren't going to take one of them home, he kicked and screamed, (literally) like the proverbial two year old - although nobody at the toy library took the slightest bit of notice - I guess they see tantrums of all varieties there all the time! We realised later, that the appeal was not so much the little car itself, or even zooming around in it, it was the DOOR - opening it, jumping in and then banging it shut with a 'DWAH' that was the huge attraction!!

Bathtime is the BEST time of day - bar nothing - this is a little water baby - note the waves in the bathtub! Pre-bath it's fun to hare around the house in the altogether and get grandad to chase him while he shrieks with delight! In fact, water, anyplace, anytime will be the very best.

Soaked to the skin on a cool, cloudy day at the beach - (first time in the sea, ever - and literally squealed with delight and splashed about like a little otter)

The 'terrible two tantrum' at the water area of Kowhai park - (a huge playpark for kids) when Mummy and Nana thought it was perhaps too cold and windy for splashing in the water. Distracted for a good long while with all the other marvellous fantasy things to play on, climb on and slide down or swing on, we had to pass the water feature en-route to the car to go home. We didn't win the second tantrum and Henri got his shoes off and we left him to 'wade and paddle' --HA HA - the little bugger did the paddle for about a minute flat and then swallow dived into the water and was totally sodden - nappy, thick corduroy pants and zip up windbreaker! We changed the nappy in the car, draped mummy's jersey over the bottom half and nana's cardigan over the top half and headed home! Happy little boy - didn't care a jot about being cold and wet - mum and nana sorted it all out!!

 

En-route to visit with great grandmother in Hawkes bay, we stopped for a bite to eat and a leg stretch - Henri's black motorbike in the boot, was soon 'activated' and the lad found the only puddle for 50 square miles deep enough to soak him completely! Another complete change of clothes before we could continue the journey  - wet through, Henri had a little something and then we bundled him, - dry - into the carseat before he did any further dunking! And boy, the laddie can move!!! (There is a reason why grandparents don't generally have babies of their own - we can't move fast enough anymore!)

But truly, the best times of all, were the times with grandad - peas in a pod, wicked sense of humour and cheeky grins in duplicate. Was the best time ever - and having dad and son and grandad all together for a while was just perfect! Dis al!